Edible spiders - Haplopelma

As you travel up to Baray from Phnom Penh, there is a town called Skoun where a turn off will lead you eastwards into Kampong Chham. There the specialty is a kind of edible tarantula. Apparently this spider is quite known through SE Asia as the 'edible spider', Haplopelma albostriatum.

They seem quite harmless alive, and not venomous.

Harvest

It was beautiful in the fields of Baray. The padi was ripe and ready for harvest. Although the fields were generally shimmering with grain, I was told that the harvest was poor this year. Apparently the rains had come late. Earlier in the season, the dry spells had badly affected the quality of crops, and the yield poor.

Still, it was quite educational for us, watching the harvest and processing of the padi.

More about Cambodia rice here:
http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Cambodian-rice-to-flood-market-soon-13083-3-1.html
http://www.fao.org/rice2004/en/p14.htm

School resources

The kids are generally very keen about school. The parents sometimes need persuading especially during harvest time when they prefer the kids to be working. Sadly many do not place a premium on education yet. Fortunately the kids are coming to school, and learning.

The difficulties the students face also relate to the inadequacy of resources in the school. The students don't have money for school uniforms. Some have used uniforms but they are often dirty and torn. They have text books which have been issued by the government. These seem adequate. But they do not have exercise books and writing materials. They make use of a chalkboard to practice writing, but they do not have any chalk!!

We have been thinking of ways to resource the classrooms and the students. On top of books and writing materials, the kids need school bags. We reckon we can start a collection for ballpoint pens and discarded conference bags. But I think for the long haul we need to find some way fund the school.

A rough estimate would be approximately USD5-10 per student per year. Based on the 7 classes x 2 sessions we have started in the 3 villages, we will need to raise about USD3-5K per year just to sponsor these students.

..sigh!.....

O Ta Saeng School

We had a great opportunity to visit the school at O Ta Saeng. Since the commissioning of the school in August, the school has already started 4 classes - 2 x Grade 1 classes in the afternoon, and 1 x Grade 2 and 1 x Grade 3 in the morning. Each class takes about 35 students at the moment. It is expected that by the same time next year, the school will be full.

Two teachers were taking classes that morning. The Dy Principle of the school, Lene has been teaching for 0ver 10 years. She has Grade 9 + 1 year of teacher training. She lives about 5 km from school and rides a motorbike in daily. She shared that she was quite content biking the distance in to school, as there were now more students in school. Apparently last year, before the school was built, 2 children had fallen into the river on the way to school and drowned.

The other teacher Bomary, is younger, but with similar qualifications. She lives only about a km away. Both appear quite happy and well adjusted.


One of the difficulties they face is the shortage of resources. The children have textbooks issued by the government, but no exercise books and writing material. More about this later.

NTU Student project

Students meeting at our home

On 6 December, Ping and I will leave for Baray. We will meet up with a group of 22 NTU students from the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Leadership Development Programme. They will spend a week in Baray working with Esther's team on a number of village projects. I have to say we are both really looking forward to this trip.

Their Project L.O.V.E. brief itinerary is as follows:

Day1 Sunday
Arrival -packing of hygiene packs, food rations

Day 2 Monday
Making the roads
The whole group is involved in the project for today

Day 3 Tuesday
Making 3 wells and pavements concurrently
3 gps of students at 3 different places.

Day 4 Wednesday
Repairing roofs of a small house of 4m by 5m with zinc roof.
This is one of the most important project to give shelter to the
elderly and the poorest ones.

Day 5 Thursday
Teaching hygiene in school but taking on 6 classes.
Each group to teach in 2 classes taking about an hour in one class

Day6 Friday
Visit village homes and distribute clothes and food rations

Day7 Saturday
Leave for Siem Reap.

O Ta Saeng School commissioning

My apologies for being so slow in posting my updates. Things just kinda snowballed after we got back from Cambodia.

So the exams are over now and I've finished marking the exam scripts...so I have a bit more breathing space now. Also looking forward to our next trip to Baray.

The school at O Ta Saeng was completed on schedule. We had a bit of an opening ceremony. It was also good meeting up with Ps Lee Peng Chiat from Alor Star methodist Church. I felt especially satisfied that we were able to build this school in collaboration with Alor Star despite our not having known each other before...and having done so in faith and trust.

In the end the inflation bumped up the cost of the school almost 50%, but by God's grace we had just about enough funds to pay for everything.

Commissioning of the school

So the school should be complete soon. My trip there is pretty much confirmed for 4-7 August. We'll be meeting with the contingent from Alor Star Methodist Church. I believe there will be a kind of handing over of school keys to the village leaders/school principal.

Jhon Sim will be accompanying me. It is a nice time to go as JetStar Asia has got a special on the flight to PP. But I think it's going to be all wet and muddy as it is the rainy season. Still I think it will a great trip.

We will also be exploring other options to help the villagers...perhaps a school for another village or a scholarship scheme to help deserving students further their education in the high school/college/university.